What do Selma and Friday have in common? Both are heading back to theaters for special occasions.
For the former, the recent Best Picture nominee is getting a quick rerelease this weekend for the 50th anniversary of historical events seen in the movie. March 21, 1965 is the date Martin Luther King Jr. led the third and complete attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery in support of voting rights. As depicted at the climax of Selma, three days later thousands of protestors descended upon the Alabama capital. That summer, the Voting Rights Act passed through Congress and was signed into law by President Johnson.
Tickets for the movie are being offered at a two-for-one rate to ensure that people can afford to see this brilliant movie as a commemoration of such an important part of American history. The interest in having it seen by as many people as possible has previously been seen in Paramount's offers of free tickets to Selma for students.
As for Friday, the Ice Cube-led comedy is celebrating its 20th anniversary next month. It made a leading man out of the rapper, who also cowrote the screenplay; a movie star out of comedian Chris Tucker; and a viable feature filmmaker out of music video director F. Gary Gray. Friday was a huge hit and spawned two sequels and an animated series while also launching the careers of Meagan Good and Michael Clarke Duncan, both of whom have bit parts.
Friday's rerelease is a one-night-only event being held in about 400 theaters on April 20 (yes, 4/20) and will feature both a director's cut of the comedy and a 24-minute special on the making of the movie including new interviews with the cast. The hit soundtrack to Friday is also getting a special vinyl reissue out on April 14.
Fathom Events is handling the Friday screening, and don't you forget about their 30th anniversary rerelease of The Breakfast Club this month. They actually get to do a lot of special movie screenings thanks to the ease of sending digital copies straight into theaters. They've also got Rear Window this weekend and a 50th anniversary showing of The Sound of Music in April (see their calendar here). And hopefully in five years they'll have a 20th anniversary director's cut of Next Friday, too.
